


Scatter

by pixiestickssss



Category: Bleach
Genre: Character Development, Character Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-24 00:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10730247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiestickssss/pseuds/pixiestickssss
Summary: Byakuya Kuchiki is not stupid. Nor is he deaf.





	Scatter

**Author's Note:**

> The plot bunny was captured before it caused too much havoc.

Byakuya Kuchiki is not stupid. Nor is he deaf. 

He hears the whispers spread behind closed doors: ‘he is cold and ruthless’. 

‘He has no emotions so he plays with the emotions of others’. 

‘His heart is made of granite, sitting in a cold chest’.

And so he sits behind his desk and fills out sheet after sheet with fingers he keeps from tapping and sometimes he wonders. He wonders what would happen if he broke the restraints beaten into him since a tender age. 

The things that made him strange, made him different. One of his earliest memories is of a Clan Elder snapping at him to 'stop fidgeting for the good of the clan' and the sharp blow of a cane across the backs of his legs. Soon after that, voices shouting: stop fidgeting, stop smiling so much, Kuchiki Heads are aloof and distant, stop looking at boys and look at girls, you must take a wife for the good of the Clan, don't use your left hand to write because it's improper, didn't we tell you to stop fidgeting.

The Clan.

The Clan.

The Clan. 

For all Byakuya cared the clan could turn him upside down and kiss him and then turn him right side up and kiss him again and he would still hate the restricting ways forced upon him. 

But there is nothing he can do. If he rebels, he will be removed. And he knows for a fact that the next Clan Head will have Rukia back on the streets before sundown. 

So he stays and remains aloof and distant, using his dry humour sporadically. Because no matter what rumours are spread about Byakuya being emotionless, he knows that he loved Hisana more than the Clan and he will not break one of his many promises to his wife. 

No. Byakuya is not emotionless and never will be. But he has to be for the good of the Clan.

 

 

Then Muramasa happens and Senbonzakura appears; a blazing ball of emotion and chaos, a trail of destruction behind him. 

The base of each Shinigami out in the open for people to read like a book. There is chaos. Some people insist on having the spirits back inside their swords. Others embrace them like the opportunity it is. 

Byakuya is part of the second group. He looked at Senbonzakura and saw himself. So he unleashed his zanpaktou on the Seireitei, warning all the cold Elders that 'this is what I'm hiding'. 

(He can easily tell that people are not expecting this immature, short-tempered, irritable samurai to be the zanpaktou of the distant Captain Kuchiki. Ukitake and Kyouraku just drink their tea and laugh like the old men they are. They've known Byakuya since he was a noisy brat toddling around the gardens and so they know what his temper is like.)

He watches Senbonzakura fumble around, blow up the Twelfth Division (and most of the Seireitei along with it) and then bullshit his way out of the resulting mess in a most spectacular fashion. He know that Shinigami are starting to catch on. Hitsugaya is squinting suspiciously at him from the far side of the crater whilst Kurosaki isn't even bothering to hide his staring. 

Then Sode no Shirayuki throws a party (in the Sixth Division gardens no less! She swears up and down that Senbonzakura let her but all she gets is a few raised eyebrows (and hard looks from the more suspicious ones)).

When the party winds down, Byakuya picks his way across the grass, stepping delicately between snoring Shinigami to reach his intoxicated zanpaktou mumbling near a pile of bodies, mask no-where to be seen. He's not the only one doing damage control either. Hitsugaya is trying to shake his Lieutenant awake while his dragon spirit does the same with the cat-spirit sprawled out nearby.

Senbonzakura gets a swift kick to the middle. He gazes at Byakuya with sleepy blue eyes and offers him the bottle. All he gets in return is a raised eyebrow and an outstretched hand. Senbonzakura accepts the hand and Byakuya hauls him upright. 

Wielder and weapon eye each other. 

Then weapon vomits over the grass, only just missing his armoured feet. Wielder, who is outside of the splash-zone, sighs and pats the whimpering spirit on the back. Byakuya slings Senbonzakura's arm over his shoulder, nods to Hitsugaya and flash-steps to the Kuchiki Manor (with only a few accidents along the way).

He greeted by the ancient head butler, Kenji, who doesn't bat an eye at the sight of his master practically carrying his drunk other half. Kenji has been the head butler for as long as he can remember. Byakuya guessed he's seen everything there is to see and Seireitei would fall without him. Together they carry the heavy spirit down the corridors to the Byakuya's bedroom. 

Not the master bedroom because Byakuya has always seen that room as his parents room, never mind that they're both long dead and gone. 

Byakuya dumps Senbonzakura on his side of the bed and dismisses Kenji. He spends the rest of the night finishing up on paperwork and wondering if his mother is rolling in her grave right now.

The next day there is a captains meeting. Senbonzakura is gently shaken awake and offered tablets. As he gulps them down, Byakuya fixes the kenseikan while attempting to straighten Senbonzakura’s mask at the same time. Ten minutes later, they are both flash-stepping over the rooftops.

They swing by the Sixth Division to see the damage. Byakuya cringes internally but it looks like the Third and Fourth Seat have things under control. 

The meeting is about the Tojo and Senbonzakura fidgets the entire time, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, tapping his fingers and just not staying still. The meeting ends and Senbonzakura is out the door before Byakuya has time to turn around. 

Just as the other captains and their calmer zanpakutos reach the door, there is the sound of a child and an adult shrieking and the clattering crash of falling armour. Byakuya watches with tired eyes as his zanpaktou is stomped into the ground by Zabimaru and turns his back. 

Senbonzakura brought that upon himself. Moments later, judging by the yells and smashing glass, Senbonzakura breaks free and dives out a window, Zabimaru close behind. Shunsui laughs after a moment of silence, Ukitake chucking along. "Fairly spirited fellow, isn't he. Reminds me of the old days." He adds slyly, glancing meaningfully at Byakuya.

Byakuya ignores him with all the grace of a Kuchiki Clan Leader and strides out. 

By the time Senbonzakura vanishes back into sword form, the Sixth Division is missing half of the main gate, the Twelfth Division labs are still being found in ponds and flowerbeds, the Seiretei is in shock from the things that the Senbonzakura/Zabimaru Duo have accomplished and Keiji threatened to retire no less than five times. 

Byakuya feels ragged and tired from chasing his zanpaktou around and restraining him from the more absurd things he wants to do. But, he thinks as Renji grins at him over paperwork and something jumps in his chest, now people know that he's not emotionless. 

He's still awkward around Rukia, though. But he's improving.


End file.
